Shubman Gill summed up the strain of playing for India in one statement, stating that his heart was racing during his innings in Vizag. India won the second Test against England by 106 runs to level the five-match series 1-1.
Gill was under intense pressure following his failures at No.3 for India. The youthful batsman, who had moved to fill the vacuum left by Cheteshwar Pujara, had battled for runs and had not reached a fifty in the previous 12 innings before the knock in Vizag.
This knock of 104 was Shubman Gill’s third Test century, his first since against Australia last year.
Shubman Gill was asked by JioCinema commentators after the second Test about the pressure of playing for the national team. The young batter would open up on how he was feeling nervous throughout the innings.
"Honestly, I'll sum it up in one line. My heartbeat playing the first ball and playing my last ball was the same. Yes, my heartbeat was the same. My heartbeat was the same throughout my innings. That's how nervous I was feeling even after scoring 104,” Gill said on JioCinema.
Gill also revealed he had a chat with Rahul Dravid about the same thing and how he had never experienced a feeling like that before.
"That's what I was actually talking to Rahul sir this morning when the England team was batting that it was quite weird for me. I've never experienced anything like this. I mean, it was not like I would have changed the way that I played. But it was something different that I experienced yesterday because my heartbeat was just the same throughout the innings,” he added.
Gill would explain why he was apprehensive, and the Indian hitter stated that it was due to his inability to score runs in the previous few matches and satisfy his own expectations.
"Obviously, not being able to score runs in the previous three matches, and it was not really the expectations or, you know, it was not the outside noise, but the expectation that I have for myself and I was just a bit disappointed with the way that I got out in the first innings here and the first innings in Hyderabad. So with all of those expectations, I was just a bit disappointed in myself. So maybe that was the reason," said Gill.
